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Rainy Day Decisions #12 & 35

I write to you, family, friends, and readers from around, from Canmore, Alberta. The grand, seventy-nine-day road trip has come to an end. Here is the last post about my adventures with Tom in the United States, as I will return to blogging about recipes after this:

Glacier National Park, Montana, was our last stop: the only national park shared between Canada and the United States. Our plan was to spend a few days in the US part, then a few days in Waterton, Canada. This plan was adjusted after we were faced with the following three obstacles: forest fire smoke that clouded some of the hikes and views on the east side of the park, a lack of free camping, and a rainy forecast later in the week.

Glacier is a very large park. The first two days we spent on the West Glacier side. We discovered a picnic area beside a lake that was very quiet, and went there twice to prepare food. We also hiked over 10 miles along the Highline Trail, not realizing that our decision to hike it backwards meant that we were going uphill rather than downhill. We were exhausted by the end, especially because it was so hot that day. However, the views were gorgeous, and we saw some wildlife, which both made the hike exciting.

Deer having his lunch right before we had ours

View from the Highline Trail

Marmot

Bighorn Sheep

Our transition to the other side of the park is where we encountered some difficulty. We thought we would take a leisurely drive through the park to see what was in the middle, but encountered a lot of traffic, and then drove through the smokiest area of the park. We discovered on the east side that outside the park was a Native American reserve, which meant that we could not camp in any of the forest area. We had to drive about an hour south of the Many Glacier entrance of the park to find a forest service road with primitive camping on the side of a dirt road. Our commute to the Many Glacier entrance involved driving through more smokiness, and loose herds of cows that liked to jump out unexpectedly on the long, windy road. There were only so many days we wanted to deal with this.

We hiked to Iceberg Lake at Many Glacier, which was one of my favourite hikes of the trip. It was 10 miles long from start to finish, but not very inclined, and the lake at the end was spectacular.

Check out the icebergs in the lake

A few times throughout our trip, we were able to escape bad weather by moving on to our next destination, but as we were at the end of the trip, so close to Tom’s home, and in an area with no free camping, we made the decision that Waterton could wait for another trip. It is, after all, only a few hours from Calgary, and we can go during a time when the weather is more appealing. It was a decision that I felt bittersweet about; I didn’t want to cut our trip short, but both of us were starting to make peace with it coming to an end.

On our last day we went to the Two Medicine entrance and skipped rocks at Two Medicine Lake.

I think it is evident that this trip has been an incredible adventure. At the risk of sounding cheesy, I have learned a lot about myself and what I am capable of, as a climber and a person. I could not have asked for a better travel companion, and even with all the nicks and bruises along the way, it was all worth it. I am truly grateful for the people who have taken the time to read and comment on my posts over the last three months. Thanks for all the support!

After three months of living out of a car, eating one-pot meals, having limited access to showers and toilets, and sleeping in a real bed only once, it is back to reality I go. You can be sure that at the next possible moment, I will hop right back in my car-home and continue to explore this beautiful world.